Dreams
by Loveon
Summary: It really was almost too much to handle. All the people he'd met... all the Pokémon he'd captured... all the badges he earned... it was nothing more than that?


_Author's Notes_: This is what happens when it's five in the morning and you're on TV Tropes WMG (which, as I discovered then, stands for Wild Mass Guessing) page for the Pokemon anime. I happened to come across something that said "99% of the show is a giant dream sequence hallucinated by Ash. He's in a coma, and all the other characters are manifestations of various aspects of his psyche."

Now, I never did click on the link that it gave, so by the time I finished writing this short thing, I decided to click on it and realized it was much different from the idea that it gave me. So... yeah.

5 a.m + me + TV Tropes = this.

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><p><em>Dreams<em>

Ash Ketchum, 10 years old. Currently traveling through the Unova region, alongside his first Pokémon, Pikachu, and his newest traveling companions, Iris and Cilan. Exciting? Definitely, of course!

…And yet, something felt off.

He didn't begin to think something was wrong until a little bit earlier. As the three of them headed to the next city, a strange scene flashed before his eyes.

White. Strange things up on the roof.

It didn't last even a second. Nonetheless, he came to a stop, causing Iris and Cilan to look at him in confusion.

"What's the matter, Ash?" Cilan asked.

Ash blinked a couple of times and shook his head. "Ah, it's nothing. I just thought I saw something."

No one bothered to press the matter anymore. They traveled along a bit more before finally setting up camp for the night. Ash had yet to question where Cilan was keeping all this equipment at - a table, cooking utensils, sleeping bags. He was already used to Brock's seemingly endless bag, so there was no need to question it.

Something else flashed across his mind. More white. A shape standing over him.

"_Pika_?"

Ash blinked and shook his head, reaching out and patting the yellow, electric mouse that was staring at him in concern. "Haha, I'm fine! No need to worry, Pikachu!"

No need to worry… Dawn had said that a lot, didn't she? But it was when she said no need to worry that they would worry the most.

…Hmm. Something seemed odd about that memory, too.

As they ate the food Cilan prepared, Ash couldn't help but mentally compare his cooking to Brock's. The meals they prepared seemed awfully alike. In fact, it all tasted the same. Maybe Ash just didn't have good taste buds or something. He hadn't tasted Brock's cooking in a while… Maybe he was just used to Cilan's? They'd been traveling together for a while, now…

Soon enough, Ash had climbed into his sleeping bag with Pikachu. He said good night to his two friends and closed his eyes. He must've been tired, that's all. A good night's sleep would fix everything…

_White. Everything was blurry. There was a woman sitting next to him. She seemed to be getting up and saying something. It was too blurry to see her clearly, but… was that his mom?_

_He looked over on the other side. There were two other people sitting there. He couldn't make out their features, but… one of them had orange hair?_

Ash's eyes shot open and he bolted upright. His skin was covered in a cold sweat, his breath coming out in heavy puffs. Pikachu had been knocked out of the sleeping bag with Ash's abrupt movement, and now Cilan and Iris had also sat up, having been woke up by Ash.

"Ash, are you okay? Did you have a bad dream or something?"

"It wasn't my cooking, was it?"

Ash shook his head, trying to catch his breath. Something really _was_ wrong. It wasn't because of anything Cilan made, or because of a lack of sleep. Really, something was definitely, seriously, terribly wrong.

"Iris!" Ash stood up and faced the dark skinned girl. "I want you to smack me! In the face!"

Iris stared at him like he'd gone full stupid. "What?"

"Slap me! In the face! As hard as you can!"

"Why?"

"Because! You have to listen to me, 'kay? If you slap me, maybe that'll get me out of whatever's happening here!"

Iris looked highly doubtful at this as she shot Cilan a glance. She stood up and walked up to Ash.

"Fine! But only this once, okay? You'll have to ask Cilan next time."

Ash nodded. "Okay! Bring it!"

As Iris pulled back her hand, Pikachu and Cilan watching in concern, Iris's hand swung forwards, slapping Ash across the face.

$%*#?

His eyes shot open.

He was in that white room again. His eyes darted around - his mother was shouting for a doctor to hurry in here, standing on his left. On his right… were Brock and Misty. Hey, he knew them! Right, right… Misty always shouted and smacked him around, and Brock fell in love with every woman he met! Wait, if they're here, then…

"_Pika_?"

Sitting on the end of the bed sat that yellow mouse Pokémon. With red cheeks and pointy ears, and a zigzag shaped tail.

His throat hurt. A mask was covering his mouth and nose. Why? Why was that on his face, and why were there lots of cords hooked up to his arm?

A man came into the room, wearing a long, white coat. He couldn't understand what the man was saying. It sounded like he was speaking a foreign language. But his mom, and Misty, and Brock, and even Pikachu seemed to understand his words. As the man seemed to finish his long winded talk, he felt like he could understand the final words, and yet, not exactly.

"…h!…n…ar…me?"

His eyes darted to the right. Misty had leaned over the bed, peering into his face. She was talking… but he couldn't seem to understand her completely.

"…Ash! Can you hear me? Can you understand what I'm saying?"

Everything seemed to come back to him in a wave. Everything seemed so loud, his skin felt hot, the sheets felt cold and uncomfortable.

And he could understand what Misty said. Despite the slight pain it caused, he nodded his head in response to her question.

A look of joy lit up on her face, and his mother's and Brock's. Tears instantly poured from Misty's eyes as she wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly and crying loudly. Her tears felt hot, and Ash wanted to tell her to stop. What was she so happy about anyways?

Ash struggled to pull the mask off his face, even though the doctor quickly stepped forwards to make him put it back on. Before the doctor did, Ash managed to ask a question.

"Wh… what about Iris and Cilan? And Dawn, and May, and Max? Where're…?"

Misty pulled away from him, wiping the tears from her eyes. She looked puzzled by his question. "Who're you talking about, Ash? I don't remember meeting anyone with those names…"

Ash didn't get to answer another question, as the doctor pulled the mask up on his face again. More people began coming into the room, and Misty, Brock, and his mother got up and left the room, Misty picking Pikachu up off the bed as she left.

Doctors ran countless tests on him, put him through machines and shone lights in his eyes. They seemed surprised that Ash was actually capable of talking. They asked him questions, made him read flash cards, and did all kinds of strange things. After what seemed like an eternity of being tested on, they brought Ash back to the room he'd woken up in, where Misty, Brock, and Pikachu were waiting for him.

He couldn't help but notice that Misty and Brock looked older. Yeah, they definitely didn't look like that when he last saw them. The last time he'd seen Misty was… hmm, after they went to Kanto to challenge the Battle Frontier? Her hair seemed longer, and she looked a bit taller, too. And Brock… he parted ways with Brock just a bit before he left to Unova. Brock couldn't have aged like that within a few months.

This time, Ash didn't have to lay there with that silly mask on his face. So he could at least talk.

"What… what happened?"

Misty looked at him with concern. "You don't remember?"

"Misty, he probably can't remember any of that," Brock added. "People in a coma sometimes have trouble remembering things."

A coma? What?

Misty turned back to Ash. "I guess you really don't remember, do you? You got into an accident during the Pokémon League tournament."

"I… did?"

Misty nodded solemnly. "Yeah. It left you in a coma."

"How long have I been in a coma for…?"

"I'd say about…" Misty glanced up at Brock. "Five years now, right?"

Brock nodded in agreement. "Yep. It's been five years."

Ash was silent. He couldn't believe it… he'd been in a coma for five years thanks to an accident during the Pokémon League tournament?

…That would mean… that everything had been a dream?

Traveling to Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Unova…

May and Max… Dawn… Iris and Cilan… they were all just a dream?

All the Pokémon he caught, all the battles he had, all the badges he earned… it was nothing more than that?

He spent five years having such realistic dreams?

This was almost too much to handle.

Something moving caught his eye. Pikachu had hopped out of Misty's arms to sit on the end of his bed. It looked up at him anxiously.

Pikachu… his first Pokémon, his best friend… had waited for him all these years, waiting for him to finally wake up. It had watched him age from the ten year old boy he'd been to the fifteen year old boy he was now. It hadn't left his side to run off into the wild, even though it had the choice to do so.

Ash held out his hands. "Come here, Pikachu."

The mouse Pokémon let out a cry of joy as it sprung across the bed, leaping into Ash's arms. He held onto Pikachu tightly, his eyes beginning to burn with tears.

He might've dreamed all the other things up… but at least his very first traveling buddies were here with him. And in a while, his mom would come back to the hospital with the people he knew in Pallet Town with her. Like Gary and Professor Oak.

_A flash of a dimly lit room, people sitting by him, dressed in funny outfits._

Ash blinked, a tear rolling down his cheek. What was that just now?

He shook his head, releasing Pikachu and reaching out to hug Misty and Brock.

It didn't matter. He was awake now. And that was what mattered the most.

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><p><em>Author's Notes<em>: I need to work on making things remotely emotional. Because this didn't strike anything emotional with me. Which might be because it's my own writing. Any tips?

I think it would suck to wake up from a coma and realize that everything you'd been "experiencing" was just a dream.


End file.
